BABY, IT’S HOT: Phoenix is expected to set a record today with 19 days in a row of heat over 110 degrees. Forecasters say it’s going to hit 115 degrees.

  Heat waves caused in large part by trapped greenhouse gases and global warming are oppressing much of the Northern Hemisphere this summer. Record temperatures are expected in Italy and Spain. Today in Beijing was the record 27th day this year of temperatures above 95 degrees. 

  Climate scientists say global temperatures have risen 2 degrees since the 19^th century and will continue to rise as the world depends on burning oil, gas, and coal for energy. In China, for instance, the hotter it gets, the more coal they burn to run their air conditioning and cool off.

  It’s so hot that even the Republican Party is beginning to admit that global warming is real. But rather than back away from fossil fuels, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy touted the solution that will not offend political donors, plant a trillion trees.

THE WAR ROOM: Ukraine’s army is either advancing against the Russians in the summer offensive, or just claiming they are. 

  The Ukrainians have been stalled and blocked by minefields, artillery, and entrenched Russian defenses. Brig. Gen. Oleksandr Tarnavskyi said yesterday that his forces are advancing along the southern front despite those concentrations of landmines and Russian airstrikes. “The Defense Forces are continuously destroying Russians,” he said. Tarnavskyi also claimed that 25 pieces of Russian armor have been destroyed, along with three ammunition depots. 

  Ukraine is also defending its strike on the Kerch bridge that connects the Russian mainland to occupied Crimea and is a prime supply route for Russian forces. Ukraine said the bridge is not civilian infrastructure and is a legitimate target when it’s mainly used for military purposes “First it was built illegally. It exists beyond the law,” said Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, “and we should always remember that. And second, it is mainly used for military purposes and we should consider it as such.”

MOTION DENIED: The Georgia Supreme Court yesterday rejected Donald Trump’s Hail Mary attempt to throw out a special grand jury investigation into attempts to overthrow the 2020 election. It’s only weeks before that grand jury votes on indictments. 

  The court unanimously dismissed the Trump motions just three days after they were filed. Trump’s lawyers had also sought a court order to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the proceedings. The Georgia Supreme Court said the Trump side had presented no logical reason for that.

ORANGE ALERT: Donald Trump and his allies are making plans to increase the power of the presidency should he return to office in 2025, The NY Times reports.

  The Times reporters, including Maggie Haberman, write that Trump and his associates have a broader goal plan “to alter the balance of power by increasing the president’s authority over every part of the federal government that now operates, by either law or tradition, with any measure of independence from political interference by the White House, according to a review of his campaign policy proposals and interviews with people close to him.”

  This would include the Justice Department, which has operated independently since the last days of Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal. The Times report says Trump would put the Federal Communications Commission, which makes and enforces rules for television and internet companies, and the Federal Trade Commission, which oversees businesses, under direct presidential control.

  The Times report also says Trump would revive the practice of “impounding” money Congress appropriates for programs a president doesn’t like, a practice banned under President Richard Nixon.

PATRIOT GAMES: A Florida music teacher delivered a tirade at prosecutors yesterday before she was sentenced to six years in prison for her participation in the January 6^th insurrection after.

 Audrey Southard-Ramsey accused Antifa of filming her during the Capitol riot and said, “My whole dream of my life has been taken, because people have different politics than mine.” She, said, “I have grievances, since they don’t listen to us at the polling place.  They don’t listen to us little people in the regular world.”

  Southard-Ramsey was convicted on seven felony counts. The judge criticized her and other January 6th defendants for “cloaking themselves in patriotism.”  Southard-Ramsey also said, “I’m ashamed of this country.”

  So far, according to the Justice Department reports, 335 of 1,000 January 6^th defendants have been sent to prison. 

THE SPIN RACK: An American man on a tour is in custody today after crossing the demilitarized zone into North Korea. — Seeking to ease strained relations between the two leaders, President Biden invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to a meeting in the US before the end of the year, the first such invitation since Netanyahu was sworn in for a sixth term in December. The two have a lot of global issues to discuss, but they publicly disagreed earlier this year over Netanyahu’s announced plan to change the Israeli judicial system. — Police Sunday and Monday searched storage units in Amityville, NY connected to suspected serial killer Rex Heuermann, looking for more evidence in the case. — A county judge in Iowa temporarily blocked the state’s new law that bans after six weeks of pregnancy. The same day the governor signed the law, Polk County District Judge Joseph Seidlin heard arguments brought by Planned Parenthood, the Emma Goldman Clinic, and the ACLU of Iowa. 

BELOW THE FOLD: A developer in Gastonia, North Carolina, is planning a housing community for people 55 and older in which it will be a requirement to fly the American flag in front of every home. Developer Brock Fankhauser says each buyer at 1776 Gastonia will pledge allegiance to the United States and affirms that the Constitution is the founding document, as if that’s in doubt.

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